A shimacho–or stripe album–is a keepsake of home weaving swatches which was composed by families to remember the cloth they’ve woven.It’s been said that girls leaving their homes upon marriage would carry such an album with them to their husband’s family’s home in order to replicate or be inspired by her family’s woven cloth. Shimacho show us a good cross section of the type of cloth which was being woven and worn in 19th c. Japan. The dark tones and subtle stripes is due to sumptuary laws.